1. Field of Art
The illustrative embodiment of the present invention relates generally to electronic networks and in particular to a method and system for providing quality of service (QoS) during network communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Public access over network connections to Internet sites that provide publically available applications is well known. Several Internet service providers (ISPs) provide access to their services at public venues such as hotels, airports, restaurants, and similar public locations, generally referred to as “hot-spots”. ISPs may also provide distributed access in metropolitan area networks or other venues. The access control to the ISP sites is typically provided via a network distribution unit (NDU), such as a wired or a wireless access point installed at the location. A customer then uses a personal computing device (PCD) such as a laptop or other WiFi-ready or internet-ready device (e.g., a handheld computer, a gaming device, or “Wi-Fi” phone) to connect to the NDU and gain access to the ISP.
In addition to the use of the Internet and PCD to access public application, many customers desire to run “back-office”, private applications from back-office devices. These devices often require connection to the Internet to connect to back-office servers that are located off-site. Some examples of common types of back office applications are credit card, debit card, and/or gift-card processing, wherein the customer's card information is electronically transmitted to a central gateway (processing facility) to validate and apply charges to the card. As another example, a centralized ordering system running over VoIP (voice over internet protocol) may transmit voice data to a centralized call-center for taking orders. Other examples of back-office devices (and applications) include DVD rental stations, electronic-learning stations, inventory and monitoring systems, and video surveillance systems.
Ideal connections between the back-office devices and the back-office servers may require specific quality of service (QoS), such as guaranteed bandwidth, guaranteed latency, minimum jitter, and the like. These back-office devices connect to the back-office servers using a primary connection mechanism, which typically provides a desired level of quality of service (QoS). For example, the primary connection may be completed using a primary connection modem, such as DSL, cable modem, or T-1, which has pre-set connection parameters and QoS considerations. In some instances, the conventional back-office applications may provide a back-up connection to the Internet, available via an alternate modem/router, in addition to the primary connection modem. Thus, if the primary connection fails, the alternate connection, which offers lower levels of QoS, can be used to transmit information and ensure continued service, albeit at the lower QoS level.
Generally with some types of Internet access, e.g., access at/from distributed locations, the access provider typically provides support for different services, which each require different QoS parameters, such as minimum bandwidth, guaranteed latency, minimum jitter, and the like. For example, voice applications require guaranteed bandwidth and low-latency. As another example, card processing requires guaranteed bandwidth.
Conventional QoS measures are pre-determined for each connection type and do not typically correlate to the actual service being accessed by the connection. Thus, if a service is switched from a primary connection to a secondary connection, such as during a loss of connectivity on the primary connection, the service encounters a reduction in QoS to that of the secondary connection.
In addition, certain ones of these applications may need to run inside of a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel that is connected from a VPN client to a VPN tunnel aggregator. The VPN tunnel aggregator terminates all of the VPN tunnels and routs the traffic to a VPN tunnel handoff router, where the traffic is routed to various back-office application servers. However, when an application/service switches from the primary connection to the secondary connection, the VPN connection is lost, and has to be manually re-established.